Integration

Integration disabilities take several forms, corresponding to the three stages of sequencing, abstraction, and organization.

A student with a sequencing disability might recount a story by starting in the middle, going to the beginning, and then proceeding to the end. The child might also reverse the order of letters in words, seeing "dog" and reading "god." Such children are often unable to use single units of a memorized sequence correctly. If asked what comes after Wednesday, they have to start counting from Sunday to get the answer. In using a dictionary, they must start with "A" each time.

The second type of integration disability involves abstraction. Students with this problem have difficulty in inferring meaning. They may read a story but not be able to generalize from it. They may confuse different meanings of the same word used in different ways. They find it difficult to understand jokes, puns, or idioms.

Memory

Disabilities also develop at the third stage of information processing, memory. Short-term memory retains information briefly while we attend to it or concentrate upon it. For example, most of us can retain the 10 digits of a long distance telephone number long enough to dial, but we forget it if we are interrupted. When information is repeated often enough, it enters long-term memory, where it is stored and can be retrieved later. Most memory disabilities affect short-term memory only; students with these disabilities need many more repetitions than usual to retain information.

Output

At the fourth stage, output, there are both language and motor disabilities. Language disabilities almost always involve what is called “demand language” rather than spontaneous language.

Spontaneous language occurs when we initiate speaking — select the subject, organize our thoughts, and find the correct words before opening our mouths. Demand language occurs when someone else creates the circumstances in which communication is required. Motor disabilities are of two types: poor coordination of large muscle groups, which is called gross motor disability; and poor coordination of small muscle groups, which is called fine motor disability. Gross motor disabilities make children clumsy. They stumble, fall, and bump into things; they may have difficulty in running, climbing, riding a bicycle, buttoning shirts, or tying shoelaces. The most common type of fine motor disability is difficulty in coordinating the muscles needed for writing. Children with this problem write slowly, and their handwriting is often unreadable.

ORAL PRACTICE

3. 8 Think over the problems:

Do you agree that the stages given above (input, integration, memory, output) really help the child in learning?

Comment on the statement: Each child has individual strength and weakness at each stage.